United Continental: Still Not Delta Air Lines, Not Even American

By Ben Levisohn

Usually when a company gets downgraded, as United Continental (UAL) was today by Imperial Capital, the analysts usually sees a change of some sort that impacts future earnings. United Continental, however, was downgraded for not being Delta Air Lines (DAL) or American Airlines (AAL).

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Imperial’s Bob McAdoo and Scott Buck explain:

United Continental’s presentations and published plans will take at least four years to close $2bn of the gap on American Airlines/Delta Air Lines margins and returns. With that, we believe it may also take four years for United Continental shares to close the gap with shares of Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. United Continental’s November 2013 Investor Day presentation outlined a four-year $2bn program of cost and revenue improvement. Importantly, during those four years, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines will be similarly working to increase earnings. While we believe United Continental’s published objectives are logical and their efforts will likely reduce costs and increase revenues, in our opinion, the scope and scale of the overall plan seem myopic in the post-merger context of what was recently the largest airline in the world. We believe the list of objectives addressing how United Continental’s results will be moved to higher levels seemed more likely to be found in a typical operating department’s annual budget presentation than in a corporate presentation as to how United Continental’s results would be lifted to record levels. The outlined operating adjustments, such as reducing employee overtime, while important, will not close the gap with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, in our view.

We are downgrading our rating to In-Line from Outperform and reducing our one-year price target to $47 from $55.

Shares of United Continental have dropped 0.4% to $41.66, while Delta Air Lines has fallen 0.3% to $39.22 and American Airlines has risen 0.3% to $44.04.

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There are 58 comments

JUNE 26, 2014 12:24 P.M.

EX UA wrote:

Only the start of the avalanche at UA. This "merger" will not work, and the leadership currently in place does not have the ability to lead this company. A total turnover in top management and operational management needs to take place before UA can ever even start to compete with AA and DL.

JUNE 26, 2014 2:27 P.M.

Ua wrote:

Smisek will take down the entire company if he can

JUNE 26, 2014 2:36 P.M.

Former Continental Customer wrote:

UA was a failure to start with so why wouldn't Continental want to merge, the CEO ran Continental into the ground. Bring back Gordon Bethune...Its agreed this "merger" was a failure from the start and will require serious new managerment to turn it around. However to be fair it's not only UA having problems, airlines need to stop nickel and diming there customers and get back to Customer Satisfaction.... not profit margins

JUNE 26, 2014 2:39 P.M.

United 186 Heavy wrote:

United has chosen in more ways than one to compete with Spirit and Southwest. It no longer even comes close to competing with American or Delta, except for price. The blame goes solely to Smisek and his cronies, none of whom are aviation people, nor have the slightest clue on how to run an airline, other than into the ground. Unmerged contracts, a fleet that makes no sense, miserable employees, and horrible customer service. If they continue on the current path, they will be a mere memory in less than 5 years. I refuse to ever board a United flight again, unless they are the only carrier serving where I need to go. I fled to American last year, and am enjoying my same elite status with much much better service, both on the ground and in the air.

JUNE 26, 2014 2:59 P.M.

UA Million Miler wrote:

What other costs can UA cut?

JUNE 26, 2014 3:10 P.M.

Million Miler Customer wrote:

Current management is really driving away business customers. The reason is poor service and poor equipment choices. I just had a set of experiences that left me wondering what is the point of sticking with United. When a major flight delay occurred last week: (1) no Premier customer services lanes were open in the late evening despite huge crowds; (2) no information was available to figure out if it was worth waiting in line for 1.5 hours for a hotel voucher that may or may not be available; and (3) when I boarded my new flight "WiFi" was painted on the plane exterior but the system had not been installed. Add to this the new mileage accrual schemes that make Economy customers worse-off on long-haul international flights. UA needs to focus on its customer service and establish a corporate culture that supports it. Service is the only discriminant among airlines .

JUNE 26, 2014 3:29 P.M.

Dave wrote:

smisek got to go.

JUNE 26, 2014 3:33 P.M.

Cant' Pay Me wrote:

You can not pay me to fly United. They are high priced and treat customers with total disregard. I received a $200 voucher for having gone through the horror of flying with them and having to spend the night sleeping on the floor of Newark airport. That $200 voucher will never get used, I wouldn't fly on them if they gave me a free ticket and paid me to fly on their airline.

JUNE 26, 2014 3:44 P.M.

No More UA Flights wrote:

I flew UA for the first time ever this year, and had the "pleasure" of 4 total segments. Poor customer service, inexplicable revocation of pre-selected seats (2 of the 4 segments), and other stuff mean I will avoid UA, even if I have to pay more or choose an alternate airport. I've had better experiences on every other major and several of the minor airlines. It was ironic that as a UA gate agent was being rude to me, I was staring at one of UA's "Fly the friendly skies" banners....

JUNE 26, 2014 3:46 P.M.

Visionary wrote:

As a current United Airlines employee, I must agree with most of the comments related to this article. The current executive team at Willis Tower is not high-caliber. The mentality that proved successful at a 3-hub mid-tier airline is not working at a 7-hub global airline. I believe there is a very provincial mentality permeating the C Suite in Chicago, rather than a world-class mentality that is needed to run an airline of United's breadth and scope. IMHO, these guys do not possess the talent, nor the strategic vision, or class to lead the "new" United.

The current working environment is worse now than legacy United's 3-year stay in bankruptcy court. I will give former CEO, Glenn Tilton his due credit: He knew how to take care of United's high-value customers during a very challenging time in the company's history. The current regime has done everything to drive away our most important customer segment to our competitors. The policy decisions implemented by this management team is the antithesis of "Flyer Friendly."

Many of us on both sides of the United operation feel demoralized, disillusioned, and embarrassed by United's service cut-backs, poor operational reliability, and subsequent financial under-performance. A change in senior leadership, vision, and strategy is long-overdue.

JUNE 26, 2014 4:04 P.M.

Jim M wrote:

From my perspective, the old Continental was way better than what United is today. IMHO, their biggest problem is trying to coordinate a major airline with at least a half dozen regional contractors who have no ability to help each other out. This is a recipe for disaster. In defense of the employees, the "ex-CON" gate agents, reservation agents, etc. are still very very good. The crew at O'Hare... not so much.

JUNE 26, 2014 4:10 P.M.

Steve Dawson wrote:

The problem at United Airlines is a failure of leadership at the top. Jeff Smisek was not up to the challenge from the beginning and has only fallen further behind. Instead of firing him as they should have done long ago, the board has allowed him to literally run what was once a great airline dead into the ground. As a board member of numerous public companies through the years, I understand the sacred duty to passengers, employees and shareholders borne by the board to assure that the company is being led by the best available talent to achieve the best possible results. I would have fired the incompetent Jeff Smisek and his team long ago.

Today, Smisek loves to blame the legacy airline personnel, past management, the unions, the sun in his eyes and the rock in his shoe...anybody but himself! (He and Mr Obama must have attended the same classes on leadership.) The fact is that United is a disaster waiting to happen. My personal on-time history on United airlines over the last two years is a dismal 12% - not due to weather problems, but because Mr Smisek would rather wait until the airplane is full and ready for take off before performing maintenance. That's an 88% failure to arrive on time record, if we arrived at all.

My company has decided that we cannot afford to have our people fly United, not because their fares are out of line, but because we miss too many meetings and too often have people stranded for hours and even days trying to move from one place to another. Our analysis shows that it costs us less to pay more to take another airline, even if the posted travel time is longer, because we can be more confident that our people will arrive safely and on time.

United will never achieve their potential and will someday be swallowed up by a more competent company if their board continues to allow management to run amok!

JUNE 26, 2014 4:17 P.M.

Big boy airline wrote:

Unfortunately the people who knew how to run a BIG BOY airline have been fired, What's left now are regional airline people who might know how to run a little boy airline but this is a big boy airline, What's needed now is to TERMINATE the current CO management and bring either former UA management or better. Smisek was running CO into the ground and that's why the merger came about. He's about to do the same again. The more things change the more they remain the same...deja vu again Smisek

JUNE 26, 2014 4:20 P.M.

good-by UA wrote:

not surprising.. at all.. i've been top tier (1k UA, Exec Plat AA) on both United and American for many, many years.. i fly over 200,000 miles a year, both domestic & international.. the widening service experience gap between these two airlines is immense and getting worse.. i've concluded that this is my last year of 1k with United.. i'm done.. AA has my exclusive loyalty now for all 200,000 miles and all the premium tickets i buy (i don't buy restricted coach fares).. the UA planes are in poor shape, the crews and gate agents are clearly unhappy, the non-english speaking call center people are of little to no help, boarding first class PAYING passengers with group 1 is ridiculous, the clubs are shabby and worn down, the lack of wifi on most flights is inexcusable, and how cancellations are handled for top tier clients is subpar.. AA, even through bankruptcy, exceeds on all these fronts-- and has really moved way ahead since exiting.. i'm looking forward to the merger, as the US segments added to the AA network will make all UA routes useless to me.. good-bye UA..

JUNE 26, 2014 4:23 P.M.

RH wrote:

Continental Airlines was run much better than United. United should have been acquired by ;Continental instead of the reverse. The Continental service and philosophy would have served the consumer and shareholders much better.

JUNE 26, 2014 4:31 P.M.

Miss Continental wrote:

I am a long time Houstonian which was former HQ of Continental, which in their day was a pretty decent option for air travel. Good service, direct flights most places, good loyalty program, decent prices. Now since the merger, UA has really torn down everything to the bones. Service is the worst, period, and they are expensive too boot. When I travel internationally I go out of my way to use Lufthansa or Singapore Air or any other airline in Star Alliance than United.

I have had elite/premier status for years, but this year may be my last. The changes to mileage plus program are so significant and such a reduction from current levels, that I am going to look at AA even though I would have to connect via DFW for many flights.

The only reason I fly United today is I live in a hub city (Houston) so many direct flights and I am longtime loyalty member. If it is so bad people like me will look elsewhere to have to connect more often and start over on their loyalty perks, that tells you a ton at how bad they have become.

JUNE 26, 2014 4:33 P.M.

You Can Pay Me wrote:

CAN'T PAY ME, if you aren't going to use your 200.00 voucher can I have it?

JUNE 26, 2014 5:26 P.M.

Confused wrote:

I don't understand all of the commentary from all of the Continental loyalists about how "Continental was so much better" and "United ruined Continental." You do realize that all of the people who used to run Continental are now (and have been) running United, don't you?

JUNE 26, 2014 5:32 P.M.

Michael wrote:

Continental took a long time to become a quite good airline after being a joke for about a decade. Then they merged with UA and they are half of a joke again. Before the merger the in-flight crews on Continental were in deep dread, and now it is their lives. I miss Continental.

JUNE 26, 2014 5:33 P.M.

38 year Int'l airline wrote:

I agree with "EXUA"'s comments. The problem is the infighting and other nonsense that United has inflicted itself with for twenty years. I have never been employed by Continental but I know the gang and we trained together. The problem is not with those who serve. It is in the greed level with those who have no idea how to run an airline but know how to financially rape. And that they do, to everyone. The attitude is how can we deceive and make off with as much as we can before anyone catches on? They have no idea of service to those who trust. It wasn't always this way. I would be happy to fly for Emirates or Singapore, or any other Middle East or Asian airline that blows the doors off of USA. I gave my life to America and was sold out.

JUNE 26, 2014 7:02 P.M.

Anonymous wrote:

wow, not a single nice comment, hope senior management is reading this.
1 bone headed UA move was killing nonstop LA - Hongkong during the great recession,
now Cathay (AA partner) has 4-5 daily nonstops, 5 from NYC,
last UA flight I took via SFO to HKG was fogged out from LAX-SFO, diverted to ANA (much better) LAX-Tokyo-HKG, no more UA on that route since.
now Cathay is awesome, better seats & way better service than UA which had some backward facing seats in business class.
daily nonstop from LAX to Mexico City also cancelled.
don't fly UA much anymore.

JUNE 26, 2014 7:33 P.M.

Not much hope left employee wrote:

It all boils down to management really dragging their feet with this merger and failing to say it was too much for them to handle. Also the Board of Directors do not have a clue that a majority of the employees are hopeless that United will survive. 4+ years after the merger and still no sense of one airline. You still have management at the Willis wearing Continental lanyards.

JUNE 26, 2014 7:50 P.M.

UAL retiree wrote:

I can help! Oops, I forgot, UA/CO does not listen to UA retirees

JUNE 26, 2014 8:13 P.M.

Abe Lincod wrote:

I just experienced 4 days of delays trying to get from Washington to Frankfurt. It involved 3 different airports, a long taxi ride, and 3 different hotels. 1 flight cancelled due to weather, 2 other flights cancelled due to mechanical problems at the last minute. Most aggravating was daily long waits 3+ hours for flight reschedules, hotel vouchers every day, and cancelled flights. I paid for for business upgrade and +miles upgrade and still flew economy, no refund yet. Ticket agents at Dulles customer service were overwhelmed or indifferent, and just disappeared for a half hour or more with customers in line, waiting. Not even a bottle of water after hours in line waiting for information and rescheduling. I received a $7 meal voucher for each entire day...wont even buy a sandwich. I can afford my own meal, thanks, but really, $7 wont buy a meal. Shameful way to treat paying customers. I'll be canceling my Chase VISA mileage plus card since the 140,000 miles I've accumulated in 3 years are not redeemable when I need them and could be accommodated.

JUNE 26, 2014 8:25 P.M.

Asta wrote:

Our family would travel two or three times each year either domestic or overseas and always use CO. After the merger we noticed major changes and heard the many comments from former CO now UA employees on how bad it had become. Not only for themselves, but also for the travelers. We now will only fly UA out of necessity and not because of loyalty. UA has NO loyalty to it's customers. After reading some of the comments, I agree that the loyal CO/UA customers have been raped by this group of greedy executives. Shame on them !

JUNE 26, 2014 9:02 P.M.

FlyGA wrote:

UAL is the LAST airline I would ever fly, if I have to fly the airlines at all. United was the reason I went into the GA system.

If human beings were considered animals, every animal rights group under the sun would have litigated against UAL for mistreatment, inhumane practices, and abuse.

JUNE 26, 2014 9:17 P.M.

Legacy UA employee.... wrote:

CAL's management got way in over their heads with this merger. From an employee's view, it feels like the management of a commuter has taken the helm. Our favorite saying when changes are made with no logic is that things are all "Jeffed up." I can only hope that Jeff Smisek is reading these comments. Never would I have dreamt that I would look back on UAL's darkest period in bankruptcy as the good ole' days. Every facet of the operation (pilot training, customer service, maintenance, route structure, equipment allocation....) has been dummied up. It's feeling a bit like Kmart and JCPenny around here.

JUNE 26, 2014 9:19 P.M.

Hubless In CLE wrote:

Smisek took away the former CO/UA Hub in CLE earlier this year. Then, to add insult to injury he moved the previously announced shareholder meeting from CLE because he couldn't face the passengers he betrayed. As a former CO Plat and now UA1k, since Smisek took my hub away, I now GO OUT OF MY WAY to avoid UA. This CLE flyer is FINISHED with UA! AA now gets my 150k/yr business..

JUNE 26, 2014 9:51 P.M.

current wrote:

all theses comits blam management.. its the pilots that call for maintenance at the last minute. cancel a filght over a acars printer. or call from home to refuse a a/c for a legal "mel'. ie;: electric seat wont adjust electricly,or my extra display is inop,a-c downgraded its cat status, .. those people in the, sign your paycheck aswell. if they dont make it were ever they may be "trying" to go, sooner or later they quit and go with another airline. just ponder sitting at you house watching planes go over head. think to your seel maybe if i would have made that trip, i'd still have a airline job... fly the cotton picken plane.

JUNE 26, 2014 9:56 P.M.

Gad wrote:

I am running down the many award trips earned when CO was still a decent airline (ore-Smisek).
Am looking forward to the end of those miles and the end of flying UA.
I once knew of a used car salesman who was so bad even the other used car salesmen in town wouldn't allow him at the after-work bars they hung out at. Smisek seems to have a similar reputation in the air industry. When he gets into one of his arrogant moods, he deliberately takes his frustrations out on the passengers, his customers, as in 2010 when the new regs were written to stop people from being trapped for many hours on the tarmac. "I'll cancel the flights,"said Smisek. THAT'll show the passengers when they can't get other flights for days. And his Board left him in charge!!!!

JUNE 26, 2014 9:57 P.M.

IK flyer wrote:

I have been a Platinum and 1K flyer on United for many years and have Million Miler status. It seems the only winners in the merger were the corporate officers. I am now paying much more for much less service. Many of the employees seem disillusioned and unhappy. They do need to address the current customer service situation, or they will lose my business.

JUNE 26, 2014 10:32 P.M.

UAL retiree wrote:

I red so maney comments about how bad UAL/Continetal flight services from the customers. I felt like that before, but not all the flights are bed especially transpacific flights. On 4/1/14 I flewn from NRT-SFO on flight
ua838 and the services were excaptional plus flight attendents worked hard on that flight. I know the customer services come first on any flights, but sometime those flight attendents do not gets their credit they
deserving for their good services. My wife and I had a split seating but some nice gentleman offer his seat to us so that we can set together on that flight. Hope top operation management needs more paying attention to an in-flight services and restored customer "friendly sky".

JUNE 27, 2014 12:02 A.M.

Sad UAL employee :( wrote:

Since the merger the company has not trained the front line employees that there is only one Airline. So that is why you have the blame game. Also mid level managers are afraid to correct senior management about outright crazy ideas that doesn't make sense from an operational stand point.

JUNE 27, 2014 12:05 A.M.

Observant flier wrote:

Your Pilots don't even exit the cockpit to thank us for our business. No surprise the company is losing money and don't get me started on your flight attendants.

JUNE 27, 2014 12:15 A.M.

karno wrote:

Continental shouldn't have bought United at the first place! And this is what would and is happening to it!

JUNE 27, 2014 1:32 A.M.

D. Wheeler wrote:

Continental had the chance to merge with Northwest. Blew that chance. And now look at the success at Delta as a result of the merger with NWA.

JUNE 27, 2014 2:50 A.M.

No UA wrote:

This is what happens when you put a greedy lawyer in charge of an airline. He doesn't have the people skills or management skills that Gordon Bethune had, and his arrogance alone did not fit with Continental . He never should have merged the 2 airlines to begin with. He is the only one who profited from it, so if it goes downhill he won't care. Undo the merger!!

JUNE 27, 2014 7:43 A.M.

what do you expect wrote:

poor service, small seats this is what to expect from all north america carriers with the exception of air canada

JUNE 27, 2014 8:13 A.M.

ex-con wrote:

I have been with our company for 30 yrs. I have seen us merge with many airlines, we went into bankrupcy twice. We had a product nobody wanted Then a man with a good plan came on board, Turned the airline around, and made it a great place to work, and put out a great product. He knew the people that paid our bills. Our customers. It's really sad to see our airline today, Management could careless about the customer, or their employee's. We are just a number that have to be dealt with. It's all about how can we take another dollar out of their pocket, and put it into to mine. On behalf of the New United employee's that love their jobs, and our customer's. I want to say I'm sorry. We are trying to provide a product that you remember, and enjoyed. Many of us feel the same way that our customer's do.

JUNE 27, 2014 9:00 A.M.

Sotexson wrote:

The last time I flew United internationally was from Texas to Frankfurt. I had a 4 hour layover in Newark. They forgot to transfer my bag to the Frankfurt flight. I switched to KLM thereafter.

JUNE 27, 2014 9:47 A.M.

Chicago-Houtson we have a problem ! wrote:

Both UA and CO should be ashamed at this failed merger, admit its broken and FIX IT. Start with both former employee groups talking about how "Great" his or her previous airline was, both airlines had good and bad qualities, time to get over it and move on. Next, time to clean house, the current team continues to prove they cannot run a global airline. Without significant changes to tall levels, United will fail!

JUNE 27, 2014 10:21 A.M.

Sad ex UA wrote:

I cannot help but see people continue to rag that UA is the worse and has taken down the great CO service.....IT IS RUN BY CO management.
The blame lies there!

JUNE 27, 2014 10:30 A.M.

Houston, We Have A Problem wrote:

I too was a loyal CO flier as I live in Houston. I could fly non-top to Europe without a blink of the eye and upgrade with miles.
Not anymore.
My in-country favorite is Southwest. It's a bus, but it's a fun bus.
To Europe? KLM.
Airlines are an "operations-based" business. Gordon Bethune understood operations. The current Yay-hoos have the ass end of the plane higher than the nose.

JUNE 27, 2014 11:02 A.M.

J wrote:

First, Bob Macadoo may be the worst analyst in the airline space. He is almost always wrong. Second, Bob Macadoo is almost always wrong.

JUNE 27, 2014 11:45 A.M.

All Jeffed Up wrote:

Smisek hand picked each board member, so there is no way that they are going to unseat this mess of a CEO.
He knows nothing about the airline industry, and cares less about his customer base. The employees are left out of any decision making, or input process.
Smisek loves his "YES" men, and fires anyone who dares suggest another, better way.

UAL is all Jeffed up, and its days are limited. Very sad.

JUNE 27, 2014 12:31 P.M.

Ex UA Retired wrote:

One of the largest problems was / is with the CAL mentality of switching over to out dated old and incapable computer systems. UAL's res and ground computer systyms were scheduled to be replaced with up dated more capable systems before the merger was even thought of. The problem is that the CAL systems were and still are at least a generation older than the previous UAL systems were. So using ORD as just one example they switched over to the CAL systems and the "special" people brought in to help with the change over, from IAH, were incapable of doing half of what a UAL CS employee could do with the previous UAL res system. This "our way is better than your way" attitude has permeated the whole operation. The employee pay roll system is a joke. It probably borders on the crimnial. And on top of all that Smisek in a private meeting has called legacy UAL employees " stupid ", which is amazing because the way CAL did the day to day business of loading an aircraft with people their luggage and what ever freight and mail was at best helter skelter. UAL was a business airline that was taken over by a mom and pop vacation airline. There is no more UAL it's all CAL and failing fast.

JUNE 27, 2014 3:00 P.M.

Gordon fan wrote:

Didn`t Gordon Bethune say way back in the 90s, well before this merger, "What do you get when you merge a crummy airline(UA) with a great airline(CO) - a crummy airline."

JUNE 27, 2014 6:10 P.M.

TiredTexan wrote:

I am a platinum elite on UA and have flown CO since 1985 every couple of weeks back and forth to Alaska for work. That is about to come to an end. The new UA is terrible, they have degraded the mileage program every year since the merger and have increased fees and fares while changing or discontinuing routes or schedules that were normally full. Just receceived my status match on DA and will give them a try. If they don't work out then AA is next on the list. Adios UA.....

JUNE 27, 2014 6:22 P.M.

Tracy Livingston wrote:

I knew when United merged with Continental that would be the end of a wonderful era. Continental was the best for customer service, on time flights, flight safety & baggage handling. I flew over 100K miles on Continental, mostly international. It is a crying shame how mediocre United destroyed Continental's professional rating...& service...

JUNE 27, 2014 7:06 P.M.

world flyer wrote:

Ual has been a turd for the last 15 years with no signs of improving. Cal ran a great operation the last 15 years with signs of improving. What we have now is a bigger flying turd! Mix anything with a turd and it will come out tasteing like a turd!!! The pre-merger UAL employees are the worst people any company could have.

JUNE 27, 2014 10:16 P.M.

John wrote:

I am a Cleveland flier and a million miler. Most of those miles were logged with Continental, and I watched over the years as a really terrible airline (Texas Air) eventually evolved into one of the greats. Gordon Bethune helped it turn a big corner and then built and maintained a culture that was unmatched.

The day I heard that Continental and United would "merge" I knew it was over. United had had terrible service, employees without any regard for customers, a "featherbed" mentality and arrogance unmatched in the industry. Read the rest of these blog entires-- there are virtually none standing up for the new United, and none who respect Smisek. Clearly, no one on the United board pays any attention to the signs--or the handwriting on the wall. I would suggest this airline is headed deeper into the tank, and $47 is probably an overpriced share for the long term, unless big changes occur, starting at the top.

JUNE 28, 2014 1:35 A.M.

CAL girl wrote:

Our CEO won't take blame so instead he further alienates and divides his employees with his statements placing blame on the inadequate, poorly trained pre-merger UA employees.

I have to say, I have 25+ years with Continental. These past 2 years dealing with my (S-UA) Co-workers started pretty rough at the merger. But now whenever I have time on a layover, I have take the time to put my CO guard down and speak with some of my S-UA Co-workers and I have come to find they take pride in trying to be as professional as possible. Not an excuse but the reason for some of the poor customer service and their frustrations stem from a S-UA culture known as "freedom to serve" your customers, then switching to a CO culture and CO IT system whereby serving your customers requires phone calls, paperwork and countless entries in computer documentation to cover your butt, if you have to make an exception to serve your customer.
What was once their tools to process, assist and satisfy the customers have either gone away or have been made very difficult to manage.
I've witnessed poor customer service on both CO and UA sides of this merger but I have to say, regardless of the working conditions and lack of tools to perform their duties the way they were accustomed, the S-UA Co-workers are still keeping strong and staying professional.
We cannot deny that per merger UA had many more high value "Road Warriors" that stayed with UA up until the merger, so UA was doing something right. Now since the merger, most of the "Road Warriors" are now DL or soon to be AA "Road Warriors" .
Smisek, there's infighting with your lower/mid and upper management teams, you refuse to really listen to your employees, (the road show is just that, a "show") and you're stuck on a failing business/marketing plan. STOP denying blame, STOP your road shows, get your management team in order, clean it up or take the advise of our Pilot group and "get out"!

JUNE 28, 2014 1:38 A.M.

Cleveland Rocks without UA wrote:

The UA pilots were once able to oust it's CEO, what happened to the power?? CO Pilots

JUNE 30, 2014 3:54 A.M.

UA pax wrote:

I flew UA twice a month over the last year. Most my flights were on time and I got great service on the ground and on board. An analyst issued a downgrade, but UAL still have one of the best fleets in the industry - the only US-based airline to fly the Boeing 787. I flew it from Houston to SFO, it is very comfortable and very quiet. With their brand new 737's, nicely remodeled 767s, 777s many of which have USB or 110V AC outlets at each seat, they're in good shape. When they get their A350, they will look the best of any US airline.

JUNE 30, 2014 10:55 P.M.

NYCTraveler wrote:

With a CEO change should come a brand change "back to the original U" for United. Seems the CEO's decision to use the CO world/globe livery has brought nothing but bad luck to United Airlines.
Maybe a revised "U" brand/livery and let the employees choose, like American did.

JUNE 30, 2014 11:14 P.M.

DullesDude wrote:

Miss Continental--- you need to remember the Continental HQ Houston boys are running this sinking ship that you despise. The legacy UA players have been replaced, most on day -1- of this merger. They knew how to treat and honor Premier's/Executive/Global Services/1K status flyers. Oh, most of those frequent flyers have all gone away too, and now we're left with wanna be Premiers (elites) / low level CO-Elites who are mostly domestic flyers to short haul locations. Chicago/DEN/JFK/WAS-IAD/SFO/LAX/NRT/HKG/PVG/PEK/LHR houses the true Premier's/Executive/Global Services/1K travelers, where CO had virtually -zero- presence. Newark is a tie up but UA had no flights to GUAM so we can give you GUM too because they almost guarantee elite status. Being that 1 round-trip to Hawaii is nearly 8000 miles and tack another 5000 if they're continuing to the west coast. So 2 or 3 round-trips in 1year hardly makes a FREQUENT flyer.

DECEMBER 20, 2014 2:42 A.M.

joe buck wrote:

I worked for continental als for 17 yrs at the cle hub. its was great. great people to work with and local and houston mgt ok. but once the merge and jeff it all went down the toilet. but jeffs laughs lall the way to the bank...terrible place to work so I retired.....

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